Bruno Bobak War Artist (1923-2012)

Bruno Bobak enlisted in the Canadian army in 1943 at the age of 20. As an amateur artist who sketched his bunk mates for extra money he came to the attention of the Historical Section at Canadian Military Headquarters in London and was taken on strength as a service artist. After completing officer training in the summer of 1944 he became an official war artist and served with 4th Canadian Armoured Division from December 1944 to July 1945. The two years he spent as a war artist provided him with the equivalent of the art schooling he had never had and it allowed him to become a painter, which he continued to be for the next seven richly productive decades. Resume : Bruno Bobak s’enrola dans l’Armee canadienne en 1943; il avait 20 ans. Pour se faire un peu d’argent, il esquissait des croquis de ses compagnons de dortoir. Cela attira bientot l’attention des autorites qui l’affecterent en tant qu’artiste militaire. Une fois sa formation d’officier terminee a l’ete 1944, il devint un artiste militaire officiel et servit dans la 4e Division blindee canadienne de decembre 1944 a juillet 1945. Ces deux annees passees en tant qu’artiste militaire lui procurerent l’equivalent de la formation en beaux-arts dont il n’avait jamais beneficie et lui permirent de devenir peintre – ce qu’il continua d’etre pendant sept decennies hautement productives. “Can we sum up the influence of the war on the career of Bruno Bobak? The important fact is the opportunity given to a young artist in his twenties who rose by sheer merit from sapper to lieutenant and finally captain before he was 22. Who at the age of 21 was chosen as a replacement for the senior Official War Artist (Will Ogilvie) to serve with the...Canadian armoured division in the final great battles that defeated the Third Reich...It should also be remembered that more than any other war artist, Bruno Bobak hated war. However, when called on, he did his duty through some of the fiercest fighting of his time.”1 © Canadian Military History, Volume 22, Number 1, Winter 2013, pp.51-56. 1 : Bruno Bobak War Artist (1923-2012) Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2015 50 Ca na di an W ar M us eu m 2 00 40 08 201 2 Lieutenant Bruno Bobak, photographed sitting on a field chair as he completes a painting, Germany, 8 March 1945. 2 Canadian Military History, Vol. 22 [2015], Iss. 1, Art. 6 http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol22/iss1/6 52 Top: Bruno Bobak, Untitled, 1945; Above left: Bruno Bobak, Friesoythe, Germany, 1945; Middle right: Bruno Bobak, Dead German Soldier, undated; Bottom right: A photograph taken by Bobak which may have been the model for the sketch above. CW M 2 00 30 25 700 6 Ca na di an W ar M us ue m 1 97 10 26 115 42 CW M 1 97 10 26 114 64 Ca na di an W ar M us ue m 1 97 10 26 114 77 3 : Bruno Bobak War Artist (1923-2012) Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2015 53 a sapper he was initially unable to accept such an appointment. Thus, he was sent on officer training in July and August 1944 and provided with the opportunity of attending lectures at Oxford University for six weeks, which ultimately solved the problem. He was appointed an official artist in the Canadian Army with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant on 26 September 1944. His first posting as a war artist was a two-week attachment to the headquarters of the Canadian Armoured Corps Reinforcement Unit (CACRU) in Surrey, England which commenced on 19 October.11 In due course, he returned to London to work up some of his field sketches into oil paintings. This was what was expected of him; an assignment of a specific duration where he made studies followed by time in a London studio, where completed paintings were the order of the day. Bobak served in Europe with 4th Canadian Armoured Division from 11 December 1944 until 1 July 1945. When he went to the continent, he was issued the equipment previously used by Army war artist Will Ogilvie.12 This material ranged from a tent, a table, and lamps, to mittens and trousers. He was also provided with a driver. Bobak was required to file monthly reports to his London superiors.13 Annotated with map references, they give, at times, a sense of his search for subject matter he could work with, but they also document the structured environment within which he continued to develop as a painter. The monthly reports also list his productivity – six to eight watercolours a month on average. In this period, Bobak’s armyissue camera was an asset second only to the significance of his driver, a man of the same age. The photos Bobak took that survive show that in his photography, he used the same compositional format that he used in his paintings.14 In fact some paintings are clearly based on photographs.15 Trees or buildings frame many and he makes extensive use of contrasts of dark and light. He also photographed the occasional dead body.16 Photographs provided him with subject matter he could revisit, the exigencies of war making a leisured study of a motif in the field sometimes challenging. On 8 May 1945, the war was over and Bobak returned to London. On 9 June, he handed in his Browning pistol and holster and on 2 July, he parted with his Voigtlander camera.17 It was now time to get on with painting canvases based on all he had seen, experienced, sketched, and photographed. Bobak submitted a list of nine works he wished to complete.18 A status report that references ten subjects still exists in his papers.19 It notes the status of each painting as “rough” or “completed.” Provision of adequate working space seems to have been an occasional problem for Bobak. “Further shuffling of furniture & space arrangements for Lts. Bobak and Lamb [Bobak’s future wife, war artist Molly Lamb],” notes one of the Ca na di an W ar M us ue m 2 00 30 25 702 0 Ca na di an W ar M us ue m 2 00 30 25 706 7 Bobak carried a Voigtlander camera to capture scenes he would later paint. Top: A closeup of a destroyed German Jagdpanzer IV in front of a destroyed farmhouse. Above: A street scene of destroyed and burning buildings in a German town. 4 Canadian Military History, Vol. 22 [2015], Iss. 1, Art. 6 http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol22/iss1/6 54 weekly progress reports on 18 July 1945.20 In August 1945, Bobak worked remarkably quickly to virtually complete Friesoythe, Germany21 in less than a week in August 1945.22 It is based on an untitled watercolour also dated 1945.23 In the painting, which includes a distant “Wasp” flame-thrower, Bobak has added a dead body in the foreground. A study for the body exists – whether drawn on the spot, or a later sketch is not known.24 Its inspiration could have been the photograph of a dead German soldier that Bobak had taken mentioned above although the angle of the body is reversed.25 CW M 2 00 30 25 707 6 Ca na di an W ar M us ue m 1 97 10 26 114 79 Ca na di an W ar M us ue m 1 97 10 26 115 16 Above: Bruno Bobak, Sherman Tank Burned Out, 1945. Left: Bruno Bobak, German Labour Filling in Crater, 1945. Below: A blurry photograph taken by Bobak that served as a study for painting at left. 5 : Bruno Bobak War Artist (1923-2012) Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2015 55 The artist seems to have found that the inclusion of dead animals in particular – the corpse present here is rare – added to the pathos of the scene. That he was moving from purely descriptive scenes to compositions of greater theatricality gives evidence of Bobak’s growing confidence as an artist. The size of the foreground figure also suggests a developing interest in figurative material, a notable characteristic of his mature work. The authorities clearly agreed that he had accomplished much for on 1 October 1945, LieutenantColonel Sam Hughes recommended that Bobak be promoted to the rank of captain, which was approved.26 On 10 December, Bruno Bobak married Molly Lamb. His best man was official RCAF war artist Aba Bayefsky. On 9 July 1946, Bobak was “Struck off Strength.” But not before he had completed one more canvas. In January and February 1945, he had been with Canadian units along the Maas River to the south and east of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. March saw the 4th Division taking part in the terrible fighting to pierce the Siegfried Line between the Maas and the Rhine rivers to seize a crossing place. He transformed these experiences into a painting, The Maas River – February 1945.27 It was not completed until March 1946 according to the remnants of a label on its back. This late date may account for its more expressive qualities. Bobak’s apprenticeship was coming to an end and back in Canada he was free of the controlling structures of CMHQ, London. The brightly lit sky and the drama of the exploding shells align this picture more closely with his postwar compositions. The figures are still somewhat pedestrian but there is a new and confident bravado on view. What can one conclude about Bruno Bobak’s war art? There is no doubt Bobak’s development as an artist during the war was remarkable. The lowly sapper became Captain Bobak and, certainly, by the time he came to paint The Maas River the artistic promise is visibly there. The young man who had submitted works to the 1944 Canadian Army art competition had grown up and set himself on the course he would follow for the rest of his professional life. The two years he spent as a war artist provided him with the equivalent of the art schooling he had never had. The contact he had with the other war artists, especially in London, provided inspiration, exposure, and the habit of discipline. Not only did the war art program save Bruno Bobak’s life but it also allowed him to become a painter, which he continued to be for the next seven richly productive decades.28

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